Greenlee, a Textron Company, has been in business for more than 145 years and has supplied high quality professional tools to the electrical industry for over 70 years. To further expand their breadth of line and industry leadership position as a premium brand, Greenlee, based on direct feedback from their customers, identified the professional hand tools category as a big prospect for growth. Previously Greenlee's hand tools were specialized wire strippers and cutters. Pliers, a key element of the professional electricians' tool box, were something Greenlee had never offered before.

Greenlee partnered with Kaleidoscope to design and introduce a whole new line of hand tools for professional electricians. The competition is some of the best and most popular professional hand tools on the market. The new line of hand tools needed to capture innovation, intuitiveness, and best in class ergonomics to be successful against the entrenched incumbents. The hand tools would also be the front runner products of a new brand product language that would extend to their entire product line to both reinvigorate sales and reinforce the Greenlee brand.

Through competitive audits, in-store visits, construction site observations and consumer interviews, the Kaleidoscope team developed concepts with product features that addressed the issues of aesthetics, ergonomics, innovative features and brand identity. Throughout the design process, these concepts were prototyped and then vigorously evaluated to achieve best-in-class ergonomics and function. Once the design was finalized, the Kaleidoscope team created final 3D geometry and drawings necessary to hand off to Greenlee.

The final design introduced a whole new brand identity. Greenlee launched the new line of Professional Hand Tools to their customers in January 2007. Initial reports are very positive, with demand far outpacing supply.

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